Do you ever wonder what’s the point of keeping a clean house? Here’s how to find motivation and why I make my bed every day (even if I barely have time).
A while back I shared a list of “simple rules” that I wanted my family to live by–something I was planning to hang up as a little daily reminder. It included things like “be kind,” “eat your vegetables,” and “always do your best.” Funnily enough, the one thing people commented on more than any other was a line I honestly hadn’t thought twice about including: Make your bed every day.
Is this really a novel concept?
I have to admit that I am slightly obsessive about making our bed each morning. And even my husband, who used to make fun of this obsession, has now embraced it. In fact, these days he might be even more obsessive than me!
But it’s not just the bed. Most of the time, our house is pretty neat. Speed Cleaning is my jam–I love doing a quick sweep of the house every day. We also require our kids to make sure their room is tidy before they leave for school.
Until I posted that innocent-seeming list, it never even occurred to me that these habits might be considered odd. Even so, when I really started to think about it, I realized there are some serious reasons why I take the time to make my bed and tidy up each day.
1. It just looks better.
This should be fairly obvious right? Straightened sheets and comforters with pillows in their proper place are far more aesthetically pleasing than disheveled blankets and a pile of pillows on the floor. A sink full of dirty dishes just looks ugly, whereas I could stare at my clean and sparkly kitchen all day long. Likewise, toys and clothes off the floor and put away are so much prettier than things scattered everywhere.
2. I get more done when my house is clean.
Taking the time to focus on putting things in order–especially when I set the timer and race against the clock–seems to jumpstart my productivity. When I ignore the mess and try to work around it, I am more easily distracted by whatever comes my way, and at the end of the day I’ll find I accomplished almost nothing. It doesn’t mean I always keep my house clean, but I do get more done on the days that I do.
3. I’m not embarrassed to have people over.
I love entertaining and throwing parties and get-togethers, & greatly value hospitality. When my house is clean I am more likely to invite someone over on the spur of the moment.
4. I can find things.
This part of my life has greatly improved since our Great Purge in December, when we got rid of SO much stuff. Now that everything has a rightful place once again, it is so much easier to put it away and–surprise surprise–to find things again when we need them.
5. My kids play better.
My children have the incredible ability to make a mess instantaneously. Do your kids possess this talent? Sometimes it seems like they spend their entire day just dragging stuff out so they can leave it on the floor. During our great purge I got rid of 4 huge bins of toys, and there is still more purging yet to be done. I have noticed, however, that when we keep their room clean (and I do make them help with this), they actually play much better. Just like me, they can find the things they are looking for and focus on just one thing at a time instead of being overwhelmed by 5,000 toys staring at them from the floor.
6. It makes my husband happy.
Who wants to come home after a hard day’s work to a house full of chaos? There are far too many days when Husband comes home at 5:30 and the kids are hungry and crabby and screaming, dishes are piled in the sink, dinner isn’t made, and the rest of the house is a disaster. (For the record, he never says anything negative and will dig right in and help with dinner, then do the dishes.) But on the days the house is clean and dinner is made and the girls happily run to greet him at the door, there is an unspoken joy that lights up his face.
7. It saves money.
Taking care of my home and my things means I am less likely to need to replace something that gets lost or broken. When things are messy I want only to escape the clutter, which can often mean going to Target and mindlessly filling a cart with even more stuff we don’t need. When things are clean, I have no desire to be any place but here.
8. I am more creative.
Instead of seeing nothing but the mess, my mind is clear to see the creative potential around me, and my desk and table are clear to spread out and complete a project. Likewise, when my kitchen is clean, it makes me want to cook things! I know this doesn’t bother some people, but I have a really hard time creating anything–or enjoying the process–when I am surrounded by clutter.
9. It helps me get a good night sleep.
There is nothing I love more than crawling into a carefully-made bed. It is so comforting! Rather than needing to wrestle with tangled sheets or scoop up blankets from off the floor, I am instantly relaxed and ready for a night of rejuvenation. Even if I can’t manage to get to the rest of the house, I almost always make my bed because I hate sleeping in a messy bed. A made bed just feels better, the blankets stay on all night long, and I sleep much better.
10. It’s my job***.
When I signed up to be a stay-at-home mom, I agreed to all the duties that came with it, including keeping house. It’s not my husband’s responsibility to go to work all day then come home and do my job too. Yes, I work too, but my “work” is secondary to my primary job of Mom.
This is not a sexist thing. Early in our marriage, we agreed that a.) one of us would always stay home with our kids and b.) that the one at home would be responsible for running the household. In fact, when our oldest daughter was a baby, he was the stay-at-home parent for a year-and-a-half. During that time, he did it all–cleaning, cooking, groceries, & childcare–while I went to work, and he did an amazing job. I owe it to him to do the same.
There are plenty of days where my house is a complete and utter disaster. In fact sometimes by the end of the day it is a disaster even when I do spend time cleaning up. And that’s life. I try not to get too down on myself on those days I can’t quite pull it all together, but most of the time I do at least make an attempt. Because, when all is said and done, if my house is clean and my bed is made, I just breathe a little easier.
What would you add (or remove) from this list?
***UPDATE: This post is now a few years old, and while I still agree with everything I wrote, the one thing that has changed a bit are our stay-at-home parent roles. I am now the primary breadwinner for our family, while my husband stays home. That means that he now takes full responsibility for much of the day-to-day cleaning and laundry, though I am still the chief organize and bed-maker! I realize that we are very fortunate to be able to have one parent solely focused on running our home, and this post is in no way meant to be an affront on those of you who work full time and can’t always keep up. Keeping a house clean is thankless, never-ending job whether you are home full time or not. This post was only ever written a reminder of why I continue to work at it, even if it just gets messy again, and meant as encouragement for those of us who sometimes need a little extra motivation to get it done!
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I love making my bed to. Almost everyday. But I agree about feeling great to climb in a made bed at night.
Thanks for the timely reminder. I do make our bed each morning but have gotten away from the daily speed cleaning I used to do. I'll be using my oven timer once again starting tomorrow!
You may not still read these comments but let me just say I am a newbie to the housecleaning scene. I grew up in a very untidy home. My mom suffered from her troubled childhood and didn't show her children how it's done. I will be 40 this year and for the last couple of years have FINALLY figured out the key to a clean home. "Little." I mean literally it's the little things that keep it clean. Not eat off the floor immaculate clean but clean enough I can sleep at night or clean enough that I WILL open the door when a friend stops by. This is an amazing feeling to me. I have made countless lists and stuck to them for about 2 days then give up because it just wasn't perfect. Then after going to a friends home (which is large, new, filled with beautiful furniture, and always clean) and seeing it dirty for the first time I changed. She said, "excuse the mess. " then laughed and was only slightly embarrassed. Why? Because she knew it wasn't like that every day. I had just happened to come by on a crazy day. I realized that it's ok to not have my house perfect ALL the time. That's life. Now I take a more humble approach to my home. It's clean almost every day. But even on the dirty days it only takes about 20-30 minutes to be company ready. And if friends stop by I try to have them over again for dinner so they can see yes, my home does get cleaned. I feel free!!!!
I know that feeling Melynda! :-)
I'm totally the same way. Every day I take the time to make my bed, get all of the dishes and counters cleaned up, and pick up toys. I can't stand working in clutter and mess. It drives my family nuts that I'm dusting or vacuuming something every day, but when you're home all day, you deserve a comfortable place to be and work.
Keep your hair clean. Hair tangles when dirt and sweat build up, wash your hair after exercise, swimming etc. Brush your hair and remove all tangles before washing it. Wash your hair going in a downward motion. Use a good quality shampoo, your stylist can advise you what product is best for your hair. When lots of water is added at once to very dry hair, hair can swell up and tangle. Gradually wet the hair and brush gently before you completely wash it. This is more common with less expensive extension hair.
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As a homeschool mom, I can't completely get on board with the whole idea that the house and everything in it should be the sole responsibility of one person. That's idealistic for sure but in terms of implementing it, virtually impossible. I have several full time jobs a day which include educating my 4 children, caring for them, teaching and guiding them in spiritual matters, feeding them which includes cooking, organizing their things/my things, yeah making the bed too. Just because I stay home doesn't mean the mister doesn't need to do anything here. I can't take care of everything, 'Supermom' is a horrible myth that tells women they need to live up yo everyone else's expectations in every arena of her life and never need any help . God tells us to be humble and to admit when we are weak. But yes, I agree on the bed being made and the clutter being culled but it isn't just my job.
This post is a godsent. I don't like to flaunt this, however I grew up in a home where these values were not valued. My Mom worked as well as my Dad and in general my Mom just had a hard time doing the "homemaking stuff" and she is the first to admit it. I have since grown and gotten married and I refuse to have my home be the home I grew up in - there is too much chaos and no one wants that. I have noticed over the years that that chaos BECOMES you and you constantly feel out of control, frustrated and there is not peace in the home. Thank you for this post because it spells out everything I want in my future in a format I can follow and continue to look back on. I feel this will help me to set goals, reach them and continue to progress as a wife and a mother. Thank you for your inspiration!
Clean house for me is priority. Everything has a place and when it's tidy I feel I can concentrate and work properly. Whne you work from home, which I do full time. It's hard to ignore the mess, and I simply can't concentrate when I know that the kitchen or even my office desk is messy.
Keeping it clean helps me relax and actually enjoy the space and live and work in.
I think I happened upon your Pinterest a week or so ago, but have only just started actually exploring your blog, and I want to thank you for what a blessing it is, and you are. I read your story and was almost in tears, but the happy emotional kind where it's just a little overwhelming, in a good way, to see how great God is.
Over the past month or so, I've started blogging. At the same time, it's started encouraging me to be better. It's encouraging me that life can be better. My fiance and I are living paycheck to paycheck right now, and I hate it. I'm the saver, he's the spender of this relationship, but I'm at home due to health stuff at the moment, so he's primarily the one with the money in his bank account.
Your blog is encouraging me to encourage him and I love it. Thank you thank you thank you.
#10 of this post was a big, challenging smack in the face. I've been meaning to do an 'Autumn Clean' (I'm in Australia, it's heading into the cold months) and get the house back into shape so that my love's face has that look of relief and joy when he comes home and doesn't have to do any more. Thank you for the slight kick in the pants, it was needed and is greatly appreciated.
This took the thoughts right out of my head, every single one. I blog about this in segments, but this is a really nice compilation that lays it all out. I do a 30 min clean up each night and keep the little things (for the most part) clean throughout the day for, yes, all of the reasons. Now, I look back and wonder why I didn't do things like that sooner, considering it takes next to no time to do it that way throughout the day and cuts out tons of chaos and stress.